


Ficlet - The Nature of Clans

by Shadow_of_Quill



Series: Daemonic Naruto [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-31
Updated: 2012-03-31
Packaged: 2017-11-02 19:39:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/372654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadow_of_Quill/pseuds/Shadow_of_Quill
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A young Naruto overhears some interesting facts about two clans.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ficlet - The Nature of Clans

Naruto tucks himself more securely behind the chimney, where he'll be hidden from everyone by the slight dip in the roof. He's used this spot to hide from the civilians, and even from the ANBU sometimes (when a prank has been especially spectacular - he still grins at the memory of Bear-san's reaction when that special paste turned his mask bright green).

Today, however, he is hiding here for another reason. He went to the Old Man again, when the mutters about how obvious it was that he was a monster got to be too much, and asked why he didn't have a daemon like everyone else. The Old Man said a lot of things that were meant to be comforting, but Naruto wasn't in the mood for being told nice lies. He just wanted an answer. And the Old Man had given him a super-important mission: sneak up here and find out the information!

...Well, he might not have used those exact words, but that was what he'd meant, Naruto could tell. He'd said a lot about 'special people' and 'restricted knowledge' and 'hidden value', but he'd also said something about 'chakra required' and 'specialised', and Naruto knew where those things were mentioned all together - here! He'd heard them mentioned when he was hiding from that mean woman who tried to hit him with her broom for walking past when she was cleaning her house -

He ignores the memories (Naruto has had a lot of practice at pushing away things he doesn't want to think about) and tilts his head as a familiar voice rises from the room he's hiding over. "Today, students, you will be learning about daemons."

_Score!_ How perfect is that? The day he's here listening, they're talking about what he wants to know!

"Specifically, the requirements of certain of Konoha's esteemed clans."

Huh. Naruto isn't sure how that's going to help him. He doesn't have a clan - he doesn't have anyone, except the Old Man and old man Ichiraku - so he can't be one of the people who's going to be mentioned.

"Does anyone know which clans in particular I will be mentioning?"

There's a pause, before someone Naruto can barely hear mumbles, "Immubuza?"

The first person talks again, sounding irritated (Naruto has no idea why she bothers to ask questions. She always just gets mad that no one has all the answers) as she says, "The Inuzuka are one of them, yes, and...?"

Naruto doesn't hear anyone else speak up, and from her next words, neither did she. "The Aburame are the other clan with special requirements. In both cases, these are due to the clan's kekkai genkai..." Naruto's attention drifts as she says lots of boring-and-too-technical stuff... "means that their daemons are permanently bound into the form of one of the insects of their hives." Wait, what? "This gives them an unmatched connection to their allies." Naruto knows what insects are. There's a clan whose daemons are all _bugs_?

...Cooool.

"The Inuzuka, on the other hand, sign contracts which mean that their daemons are 'shared' with their nindog partners, giving them a different but equally strong connection." Naruto sits up, too startled to remember to hide. It's possible to share a daemon? "This is only possible because of the..." Naruto tries to pay attention, he really does, but it's too complicated (he isn't even starting at the academy for another four weeks, which feels like an eternity to him), and all he gets is that no one else can do it _because_.

Naruto has spent the whole of his short life being told that he can't do things _because_. He stopped listening to _because_ long ago.

Someone inside the room speaks up, and for once they're loud enough that Naruto can hear them. "What about the demon brat?"

"What about him?" she asks, and Naruto doesn't like her voice. It's like a stone, the way that some of the villagers sound when they don't want to give him something that he can point at when the Old Man's around and say that they're being mean.

"What happened to his daemon?"

Naruto leans forward, wanting to hear the answer.

He hears someone else say, "It probably got eaten." Another voice adds, "That's what'll happen to other people's daemons if they get too close - just ask the civilians," and Naruto is far too inexperienced to recognise the tone of voice as sarcastic. 

He flinches back, and climbs away from the roof. He doesn't want to hear any more. They've just destroyed his wonderful plan (find someone who would share their daemon with him) before he'd even had a chance to figure out how to do it.

He doesn't hear the technical explanation that he leaves behind, describing what happened to his daemon in great detail. He doesn't know that this group of medic-nins are learning to regard him as a person who has unwittingly made a great sacrifice, instead of a mischief-maker or the demon-fox in human form.

Even if he had stayed and heard them, he wouldn't understand what he was hearing.

Sarutobi sighs, seeing the young boy's slumped posture in his crystal ball. He had hoped that Naruto might be encouraged to find out more about the clans. He might have found some acceptance among the Aburame clan, for example - they are the people in Konoha who know best what it means to have your daemon hidden from others.

Well, he consoles himself, there is always time to bring it up when Naruto starts at the Academy.


End file.
